Preface: A few months ago I published the precursor to this with a small handful of folks in it -- my intention was to continue deepening it over time to create a living resource, and so I am. I don't consider it an exhaustive end-all list, but more a small and growing -- incomplete -- resource.It's highly filtered -- people I've come in contact with who're driven by a force of greatness, and also maintain a certain luminous resonance in their life and work. *Charmed* you could say. At the time in which a person's greatest work begins to carry itself, a certain lightness emanates -- it's a noticeable buoyancy that can lift you up too.

Some will be featured in the forthcoming Edge Flow Project -- if you resonate with this group I'm guessing you'll love that project too, though it pushes a different edge.

Introduction...

Aided by social technologies and the intimate global web, we seem to be reaching higher levels of collective conscious evolution. Meanwhile, there's those pesky forces of collective ignorance, willful complacency and general darkness.

I'm particularly interested in the work of people who've managed to find a specific toehold -- catching momentum and making a deep impact -- while cultivating mindful resonance. These are the new luminaries -- creative alchemists and mindful influencers of our human/social evolution for good.

Some of these are people in the earlier stages of their work, like Margaret Nichols in the emerging luminaries section, who's joyfully immersed in the messy sprawl of New York City while quietly building a movement of unity. Others, like Josette Sheeran in the luminaries of social change/public policy section -- who's working towards the effective elimination of world hunger as director of the UN World Food Program -- are well along their paths.

One commonality between them all is an uncommon drive to push the edges in their life and work, while maintaining a certain luminance or flow. They're also actively engaged in the social web, and working towards some greater common unity between us all.

The Luminaries

Here's my small and growing personal list of luminaries pushing the edges in Art, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Social Technology, Social Change, Self-Mastery and Human/Social Evolution.

1) Luminous Artists Pushing the Edges of Personal and Social Transformation:

Alexander EbertA master recording artist, previously known for his work as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, his solo album 'Alexander' is luminous and brilliant. Completely self-made, he composed and played every part: Alexander | Official Site.

The single Truth is incredible, but I was won over by his video for Let's Win about the activist Tim DeChristopher who was recently sentenced to two years in federal prison for effectively blocking the sale of 14 parcels of drilling land -- by bidding for them with no intention to buy -- in a Bush administration oil-rights auction [Guardian article].

Participate in the INSIDE OUT PROJECT: "A large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone is challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images will be made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators for them to exhibit in their own communities."

Jonathan HarrisI love Jonathan's work -- he sort of encapsulates the conflicting sense of togetherness and isolation in our modern lives. His work brings together humanity and technology in such an incisive way, like his interactive installation commissioned by MOMA, I Want You To Want Me

This sliver of a conversation from his Today project captures a bit of his essence:

It's like, there are these gaps between everyone. Every couple, every set of siblings, every parent and child, every group of friends, and you don't really know how big or small the gap is, because there's all this fog in the gap so you can't see into it. You start to imagine a bridge in the gap, hiding in the fog, and you're pretty sure it's there and if you ever really needed to you could go across the bridge. But when you take a trip with someone, and spend so much time together, all that fog blows away, and you can finally see the gap for what it is. Sometimes the gap is much smaller than you thought it was, and you grow a lot closer. Sometimes it's much bigger than you thought, and then you grow apart or break up....
[source]

2) Luminaries Fusing Heart + Spirit with Entrepreneurial Leadership:

These people are well-known in many circles, but having personally met each of these remarkable folks I can attest to each one's luminous presence and integrity.

Charlie GilkeyRazor sharp, perceptive and wise, Charlie's a great coach, and a master of delivering.

Nice sample of Charlie's work:

Level 1 showing up is showing up, going through the motions, and tracking your time in. We show up in this way when we attend classes and do the homework the way it’s prescribed. We show up this way when we sit in our offices and wait for something to react to or to motivate us. We show up this way when we hear the people around us and do what we need to to keep the peace.

Level 2 showing up is different in kind. When we show up this way, we understand that the prescribed homework is a springboard to new applications and understanding. When we show up this way, we show up to our offices ready to make something happen whether the winds are favorable or whether we’ll be rowing. When we show up this way, we listen for what’s really going on with others and move beyond keeping the peace.
[Show up in a different way]

Chris GuillebeauHaving finally met Chris in person at his World Domination Summit this year, I find him to be more of an enigma then ever. He may be the most productive person I've ever known, and yet he's intensely thoughtful and mindful, and doesn't seem to miss any of the tiniest details.

I enjoyed this recent piece of Chris's wisdom:

When you begin to share your important work with the world, a funny thing happens: some of the people closest to you don’t understand it.
They damn you with faint praise, or they point out something trivial that could be improved. Sometimes they never say anything at all, which of course is the worst thing.

When the time comes to show off your great project, you’re all, “Hey! Check out this thing that I did!”
And they’re all, “Oh. That’s nice.”
Nice?
[...]
Some of the people you expect to be your biggest supporters will disappoint you—and some of the people you rarely thought about, or didn’t even know existed, will turn out to be your true friends.
This is how it works when you begin to share yourself with the world.
It’s a funny thing.
[LEGACY PROJECTS AND THE LOVE OF TRUE FRIENDS]

Danielle LaPorteA master of personal evolution and the human condition, Danielle's work consistently cuts through any stereotypes of personal development and straight to the core. She's also just a lot of fun.

I found her piece on Accessing your innate personal power essential and revealing. I'd still love to see her tackling some more of the issues affecting our larger future and collective human evolution... :)

Jonathan FieldsWow, so much to say about this remarkable dude, but he says it best himself through his work:

No doubt, for me, one of the greatest elements of entrepreneurship is the ability to pursue a passion or cause. Something capable of serving others, having a profound impact and making me come alive. That very quest, in fact, is often the purest fuel behind the most successful entrepreneurs. In fact a recent study of pentamillionaires found that most were driven not by money, but by passion or the quest to solve a pervasive problem.

BUT, it’s also critically important to explore how you are going to leverage that quest, that passion, that cause into a business and venture that is capable of generating enough cash to live well in the world and, if necessary, support a family. Sometimes there’s a readily available answer. Often times there’s not, and that’s where you have to get hyper-creative.

Jonathan MeadI've got my eye on this trailblazing day-job killer, waiting to see what he comes up with next. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be life-changing for a bunch of folks...

Bliss is unique to the individual. It’s not a panacea prescription that can be distributed en masse. My purpose here is to explore the uncommon way of looking at self development that is often overlooked by the typical, mainstream approach.

In other words, I try to look for where the line is drawn… then deliberately cross it.
[About]

Pam SlimKeep an eye on this lady, she's got some great stuff up her sleeves -- a lot deeper than you might think at first glance. Enjoyed this recent piece from her blog:

What is your body of work?

Your body of work is everything you say, affect, create, contribute and impact.

Smiling at your neighbor every morning as you get the paper can contribute to your bigger desire to see more happiness and joy in the world.

Your jaunt in a legal career may be a very important part of your body of work contributing to the health of busy professionals through your yoga-based health and wellness practice (see Kelly Newsome’s story here and site here)

My passion for and commitment to seeing and stoking the fire of creation inside all human beings has led me from community development projects on the outskirts of Bogotá to non-profit education to teaching martial arts to corporate consulting to entrepreneur coaching and writing a book. And it will take me new directions in the future, without having to feel constrained by any one audience or business or job title.

A body of work is big and deep and complex. It allows you to experiment and play and change and test.

A fierce guide to the inner and outer worlds of the social human web, Gwen is a master connector -- between thoughts, ideas, action and key people. I'm guessing this comes with years of deep reflection on the most pressing issues, thoughts and questions of her life (and our times) to unearth deeper values of meaning. Master of Digital Warriorship.

Co-creator with @rosshill of the Mindful conference in Melbourne -- look for some great short video interviews there -- Jan is like an ocean breeze from Oz. Refeshing, grounding and clear. She can often be found in the midst of short illuminating conversations about the nature of reality and human evolution with friends on her site.

A wonderful instigator of all-around individual awesomeness, and a man who isn't afraid to push the edges fiercely in his life and work.

Read this viral post: (again...)

You know when they say “the best revenge is a life well lived”? Well, this is true, but it isn’t the whole truth. A life well lived is great, yes, but it cannot happen while you are sweating about who your detractors are and what they think. What you have to do, what you have no choice but to do, is accept it and move on.

So not giving a fuck is actually a necessary precedent to create a good life for yourself. It can’t happen without it. That’s why you have to begin today.

A wonderful, heartful man, who never ceases to amaze. Always pushing the edges of open transparency and collaboration, as in his marvelous forthcoming "effortless life" book, which was open for a brief period for anyone to edit or contribute to.

Jeremy provides a quintessential piece to the puzzle. You may have seen his 10 minute animated talk on the empathic civilization, but have you seen the full version? With a perspective going back to the dawn of human civilization, he makes a strong case that we're at a turning point for our young human species, facing the probability of extinction in the next 100 years.

The work Jeremy's doing with early development of a worldwide shared/distributed energy grid is breathtaking: Foet.org

Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (about Josette). Doing great work to help reverse the hunger problem worldwide through innovative technology, distribution and empowerment programs.

Around one billion people go to sleep hungry and malnourished every night. Tens of thousands of these people die every day unnecessarily. Learning of her work, I came to realize that the time has come when this may finally be turned around, in our lifetimes.

NOW, the endless train of circuitous idiot logic and brilliant nonsense is still there—but I’m not. I’ve had this issue for a while: I’ve stopped being as troubled by things that are out of my control (bureaucrats, the weather, Lybia, eternal souls, bacteria), and have been more aware of the extraordinary ordinary beauty of everything beyond the bad.

SOMETHING there is that hides behind beauty—it’s a burden to cleave to the beautiful.

Scott DinsmoreScott's been at it for a while, but he's just completely redone and relaunched his site as Live Your Legend, and I like what he's doing -- strong path of leading by example, forging community and fearlessly remaking himself.

To be continued...

The hardest part of creating a list like this is knowing how many people I'm leaving out. All of my true friends and most of my regular readers here are luminaries in their own right, and I intend to bring many more into this group over time.

What does it take to lead from this place of deep heart + edge-pushing acumen? Who else should be added to this list? I'm particularly interested in those who are actively, deeply enacting social change and transformation.

Postscript

2011 will be remembered as the year of rediscovering wonder (TED) -- among other things -- diving mindfully into the core of our individual and collective humanness to re-envision and recreate our world and our future. This is essentially cultivating beginner's mind as it relates to human potential, which I can really resonate with in my own life.

There are a number of people I consider friends, luminaries and compadres in the battle of fierce light and truth with whom I've had the privilege to connect with personally, and so many more I have not had the chance to get to know better... yet. I'm committed to pushing the edges of my own personal evolution, and that of our human collective.

Mindful Influence vs. Playing with Power

In contrast to this group of exceptional beings, I see a lot of people playing with power online, using elements of human and universal energy flow to manifest and attract what they desire -- be it money, fame, success, or whatever.

On the other end of the spectrum is a smaller core of luminaries operating from a far deeper level of personal power and engagement.

These are people who've tumbled and battled with their demons long and hard enough to understand the value of mindful awareness and meaningful, precisely executed action.

These are the ones with the potential to make the greatest positive net impact over time, who are shaping our collective human evolution for the better -- the ones I’m interested in supporting, and those who'll continue rising up, as the tides shift away from greed and destruction towards practices that truly benefit our collective human species.

The creative energy and potential we wield as humans is immensely powerful. It’s essential we be mindful of what we create and support in the world, and how we approach our life and work, to avoid sowing the seeds of our own collective destruction.

This is a living piece, and will continue to be updated with others pushing the boundaries of mindful evolution in science, technology, business, consciousness, social change, art and media. Subscribe to the Epic Flow Series for updates.